Spoilers

Friday, 6 June 2014

Blackfyre Rebellion: Explained! (A Song of Ice and Fire - History)

Blackfyre Rebellion: Explained!

What is this post?

An explanation and exploration of the "Blackfyre Rebellion", an event taking place in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" universe. The event is referenced heavily in the prequel novella series "Tales of Dunk and Egg" and is also important to the main "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels.

Are there spoilers in this post?

There are no spoilers for A Song of Ice Fire (book series), Game of Thrones (television series), or Tales of Dunk and Egg (novella series) in this post.

This post doesn't require a great deal of knowledge about any of those series to understand either. You'll might be pretty lost if you don't know who the Targaryens are, or what the Iron Throne is, but this post should make enough sense to you even if you've only, say, watched the first season of the show. It's a pretty standalone post, although I will make follow-ups about later periods in Westerosi history (I'll try to make them as standalone as possible as well).

Introduction

Aegon IV, "the Unworthy"

Around 150 years before "A Song of Ice and Fire", there ruled a particularly bad Targaryen King, Aegon IV "the Unworthy". He had many, many bastards.

On his deathbed, as his dying wish, he legitimized all of them.

This led to the Blackfyre Rebellion, one of the greatest conflicts in Westerosi history.

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Aegon the Unworthy had six notable children. Two trueborn, four bastards.

The bastards were collectively known as “the Great Bastards” because all of their separate mothers were nobles as well.

Shiera Seastar

Wore a silver necklace adorned with sapphires and emeralds (same colours as her eyes).

Rumoured to share her mother's apparent skill in "the dark arts".

Rumoured to stay beautiful and young through sorcery.

Brynden Rivers, "Bloodraven"

Brynden Rivers,

"Bloodraven"

Albino. Red facial birthmark some say resembles a raven.

His mother was a Blackwood, Bittersteel's was a Bracken. The two shared the rivalry of their mother's houses.

Expert bowman. Used a weirwood bow.

Would end up losing an eye in the Blackfyre Rebellion.

Had a vast network of spies. A popular song and riddle about Bloodraven went "How many eyes does Lord Bloodraven have? A thousand eyes, and one." (Many spies, yet only one eye).

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Before the Rebellion - Summary

Targaryen Valyrian Steel Swords

The Targaryens had two particularly famous Valyrian Steel Swords:

"Blackfyre"

The sword Blackfyre

The sword Blackfyre

and

"Dark Sister".

The sword Dark Sister

The great longsword Blackfyre was passed down from king to king, seen as a symbol of the monarchy.

Daemon and Daeron II

Daemon Blackfyre

Much of the realm already thought Aegon IV, "the Unworthy", meant to make his bastard Daemon Blackfyre the heir to the Iron Throne proper (over his trueborn son Daeron II) because he gave Daemon the greater of the Targaryen Valyrian Steel Swords, "Blackfyre" (Daemon chose his name from the sword).

Many thought this impliclty meant Aegon IV, "the Unworthy", was marking his bastard Daemon as his eventual heir, over Daeron II. This was bolstered by the fact Daemon already looked like a king; strong and tall, handsome and charming, a talented warrior...

Daeron II Targaryen, "Daeron the Good"

...whereas Daeron II was more the scholarly type, more interested in books and music than swords. Daemon looked like a true warrior king, and Daeron II did not.

Daeron II's Parentage

Aemon the Dragonknight

Another problem for Daeron II was that it was rumoured his father wasn't actually the King at all, but rather the Queen's other brother, Prince Aemon "the Dragonknight"!

Prince Aemon the Dragonknight was well known as a legendary warrior, eventually becoming popularly known as one of the greatest and noblest knights in Westerosi history. He wielded Dark Sister.

It was said the Dragonknight cried when Naerys (his and Aegon IV's sister) married Aegon IV. He also once disguised himself as a mystery knight, the "Knight of Tears", at a tourney so he could could crown Naerys Queen of Love and Beauty even though King Aegon IV forbade him from entering the tourney.

Queen Naerys Targaryen

The Dragonknight died well before the Blackfyre Rebellion, honourably protecting King Aegon IV against assassins.

The rumours that Prince Aemon the Dragonknight and Queen Naerys had a secret affair resulting in Daeron II never went away, another reason some thought the bastard Daemon ought to be the next king rather than Daeron II.

Dark Sister

Bloodraven

Brynden Rivers, "Bloodraven", became the next wielder of Dark Sister, after Prince Aemon the Dragonknight's death. However, Bloodraven tended to use his weirwood bow more than Dark Sister.

Bloodraven / Shiera / Bittersteel Love Triangle

Bloodraven, Shiera Seastar, Bittersteel

The beautiful Shiera Seastar never married, although many of her lovers fought duels over her.

Her half-brother, Bloodraven, was her most ardent suitor, and proposed marriage to her many times.

Her other half-brother, Bittersteel, greatly desired Shiera as well. This was yet another reason for the great rivalry between Bloodraven and Bittersteel.

Although she refused to marry him, Shiera did eventually enjoy a lasting relationship with Bloodraven, much to Bittersteel's frustration.

The Great Bastards

The Great Bastards: Daemon, Bittersteel, Shiera, Bloodraven

Though Daemon, Bittersteel, Shiera and Bloodraven were all bastards, all their mothers were nobles as wells as their father, Aegon the Unworthy. Most bastards only have their father as a noble. A bastard from two nobles was a notable occurrence, hence "the Great Bastards".

Daemon was a particularly special case, even among the Great Bastards, because his mother was a Targaryen as well as his father - just not Queen Naerys, the Targaryen woman Aegon IV should have been sleeping with!

Having Targaryen on both sides meant Daemon was, in terms of blood, as much a Targaryen as the trueborn heir Daeron II.

Daena

Serenei

Daemon's mother was the wild Daena "the Defiant" Targaryen.

Shiera's mother was Serenei of Lys, "Sweet Serenei", lovliest of Aegon the Unworthy's mistresses and last of an ancient Valyrian house.

Bracken

Blackwood

Bittersteel's mother was the buxom, dark-haired Barba Bracken.

Bloodraven's mother was the slender Melissa "Missy" Blackwood.

Daeron II's Dornish Influence

After the failed Conquest of Dorne, the king of the time King Baelor the Blessed (Daeron II's uncle) arranged Daeron II to marry Princess Myriah Martell as part of an agreed peace.

Myriah did not come to King's Landing alone, bringing many Dornishmen and women with her. The Red Keep gained quite a foreign flavour, which Daeron II enjoyed, but many nobles resented (yet another reason many preferred the idea of Daemon Blackfyre as heir/king to Daeron II).

Baelor Breakspear

Daeron II and Myriah's first son was named Baelor, later in life to be called Baelor Breakspear, after Baelor the Blessed who arranged their marriage. Baelor Breakspear had the dark hair of his Dornish mother. Baelor was the same age as Daemon Blackfyre (Daeron II was a good deal older than his siblings).

Daeron II founded Summerhall, a new Targaryen castle, in the Dornish marches as a summer castle.

Daemon Blackfyre and Daenerys Targaryen - A Love Story

Daemon and Daenerys

Aegon the Unworthy's trueborn daughter, Daenerys Targaryen, was in love with Daemon Blackfyre.

Daemon was similarly in love with Daenerys.

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The Blackfyre Rebellion

Aegon IV the Unworthy lived a life of indulgence. He had many mistresses and bastards. He flaunted his wealth, even giving away a dragon’s egg to Lord Butterwell (after allegedly impregnating his three maiden daughters). But eventually, he grew sick and approached death.

On his deathbed, he legitimised all of his bastards. The talk of the bastard Daemon as a better heir than the trueborn Daeron II suddenly grew more serious.

Still, Daeron II was a good deal older than all the Great Bastards, and bastards still come after the trueborn in succession. Aegon the Unworthy died, and Daeron II became King Daeron II and sat the Iron Throne.

King Daeron II, known as “Daeron the Good”, had a court very different to his father. It was filled with maesters, musicians, septons, and Dornishmen and women. Bloodraven served as Master of Whisperers.

There were so many reasons one might favour the now legitimised bastard Daemon Blackfyre over King Daeron II…Daemon having the ancestral Targaryen sword Blackfyre, the rumours that Aegon the Unworthy wasn’t even Daeron II’s father, the fact Daemon Blackfyre had Targaryen blood from both father and mother, Daemon’s warrior status and charming nature compared to Daeron II’s more learned and effete nature, the prevalent Dornish influence in Daeron II’s court…but no rebellion immediately broke out. A good eleven years passed.

What changed after those eleven years? King Daeron the Good finally succeeded where even Aegon the Conqueror had failed and managed to bring Dorne into the fold of the Seven Kingdoms, under the Iron Throne. He did so through, amongst other things, a marriage treaty binding Prince Maron Martell of Dorne to Daeron II’s sister, Daenerys Targaryen – the woman in love with, and loved by, Daemon Blackfyre.

It was the last straw. The Blackfyre Rebellion finally began,
what would become one of the greatest civil wars in the realm to date. After
years of being counselled by many to rebel, Daemon Blackfyre finally did so,
and openly declared war.

King Daeron the Good sent the Kingsguard to arrest Daemon
Blackfyre, but the master-at-arms of the Red Keep, Quentyn Ball (“the Fireball”) helped Daemon escape.
Daemon Blackfyre mustered a great army and the war was on!

Daemon’s fellow Great Bastard, his half-brother Aegor Rivers
(“Bittersteel”), the great warrior,
joined him and their army grew greater.

Daemon even began to mint his own coinage.

Yet not all the Great Bastards joined Daemon in the Blackfyre Rebellion. Brynden Rivers (“Bloodraven”) stayed loyal to House Targaryen and remained Master of Whisperers on the Small Council. He advocated a hard line against the rebels, against King Daeron’s son Baelor Breakspear who wanted to pardon them.

War raged and raged. The Blackfyre Rebellion split the realm, brother against brother, friends and family divided as to whether red dragon or black dragon should sit the Iron Throne.

The Battle of the Redgrass Field

The Rebellion came to a head in the Battle of the Redgrass Field, the ultimate culmination of the war.

Daemon Blackfyre himself, along with Bittersteel, led a strong force against a Targaryen royalist army commanded by Prince Maekar (King Daeron II’s fourth son, a hard man) and Lord Hayford, the Hand of the King at the time.

Daemon Blackfyre duelled face-to-face with Ser Gwayne Corbray of the Kingsguard who wielded the Valyrian Steel blade Lady Forlorn. The two Valyrian swords, Blackfyre and Lady Forlorn, clashed for an entire hour before Blackfyre finally won.

At this point, the Targaryen flank was finally openly exposed to the Blackfyre forces. But Daemon did not immediately attack, which might have ensured a swift Blackfyre victory. Instead, it’s said Daemon and his men lingered so he could assist Corbray, rather than leave him for dead after he lost the duel.

However, by this time a second Targaryen army approached from the south, led by King Daeron the Good’s heir Baelor Breakspear.

What’s more is that Bloodraven and his elite archers, “the Raven’s Teeth”, at this time captured and assumed a vital position atop the Weeping Ridge, a spot of terrain overlooking the battlefield.

Bloodraven and the Raven’s Teeth rained arrows directly upon Daemon Blackfyre and his men near him. It’s said Bloodraven himself released the arrow that slew Daemon Blackfyre, but it isn’t truly known whether it was Bloodraven or any of the Raven’s Teeth.

Nevertheless, Daemon Blackfyre was killed. The arrows also hit and killed two of Daemon Blackfyre’s sons, his two eldest, Aegon and Aemon (his five others sons – Daemon II, Haegon, three others – survived or weren’t present at the battle at all).

The Blackfyre
army began to break and run away, losing their morale at the loss of their
leader, but Bittersteel fought and commanded hard and furiously, managing to
lead a charge against the Raven’s Teeth that decimated them. Bittersteel
managed to remove one of Bloodraven’s
eyes in this great attack.

By now, Prince Baelor Breakspear’s spearman gained the
battlefield in truth and crushed the
remnants of the rebel army.

Bittersteel quickly managed to recover the sword Blackfyre, lying amongst the corpses of Daemon
and his sons. He then fled from the battlefield to Essos, with the remaining
sons of Daemon Blackfyre.

More than ten thousand men
died in the battle, leading to where it was fought being dubbed “Redgrass Field” for the blood. With
Daemon dead, his forces defeated, Bittersteel and the Blackfyre heirs fled to
Essos, the Blackfyre Rebellion was
finished.

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Family Tree AFTER the Blackfyre Rebellion

Family tree after the Blackfyre Rebellion, in 197 AC

Make sure to click to zoom in on the family tree picture!

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After the Rebellion - Summary

Dorne

King Daeron II succeeded in his plans to unite Dorne to the
Seven Kingdoms and bring it under the Iron Throne. Dorne did however retain a
unique degree of sovereignty. The ruling Martells would still style themselves
“Prince” and “Princess” rather than Lord Paramount, and women. could still
inherit on the same grounds as men.

Daenerys

Daenerys remained married to Maron Martell, her true love Daemon Blackfyre dead.

Her Dornish husband, Prince Maron, built Daenerys the Water Gardens in Sunspear as a symbol of Dorne's union to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, a beautiful area of coloured marble, pools, blood oranges and trees, for their children to play in.

Daenerys let all the poor children in Dorne use the Water Gardens as well, lowborn and highborn children together and alike. This tradition is kept in Dorne to this day.

The Battle of the Redgrass Field

Singers immortalised the battle with the song "The Hammer and Anvil", referring to Baelor Breakspear and Maekar's battle strategy.

Bittersteel and the Blackfyre Heirs

After Daemon and the two eldest Blackfyre son’s deaths in the Battle of Redgrass Field, Bittersteel recovered the sword Blackfyre and fled east, to the Free Cities, with the remaining Blackfyre heirs.

He served a year with the Second Sons sellsword band, then left to create the famous Golden Company, to maintain support for the Blackfyres.

The Golden Company

The Golden Company became the largest, most powerful, most famous, most trusted, most expensive mercenary company. They achieved great fame for never breaking a contract.

The Golden Company’s existence and power allowed Blackfyre support to be maintained and fostered, though it understandably never grew as large as it did when Daemon was alive.

When he eventually neared death, Bittersteel commanded his men to boil the flesh from his skull, dip it in gold and have them carry it before them when they day came they crossed the sea to retake Westeros in the Blackfyre name. All succeeding commanders of the Golden Company have had the same treatment done to their skulls in his honour.

The Iron Throne and the Small Council

King Daeron the Good remained on the Iron Throne, but the realm remained sore and broken from the Blackfyre Rebellion for a long time.

Baelor Breakspear became Hand of the King. Bloodraven remained Master of Whisperers. Maekar sulked, feeling underappreciated for his effort in the war. He was given Summerhall as his residence (although it's unknown when exactly this happened, before or after the rebellion), and was sometimes called the Prince of Summerhall.

Other Blackfyre Rebellions

For about 60 or so years, the Blackfyre heirs occasionally headed minor rebellions against the Targaryens, but around 64 years after the Blackfyre Rebellion (38 years before ASOIAF), the last Blackfyre heir Maelys the Monstrous was slain by a young Ser Barristan the Bold in the War of the Ninepenny Kings.

Thus ended the line of the Blackfyres, or at least the male line. Any possible surviving female heirs have long since died, been subsumed, or been forgotten.

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Family Tree around 13 years AFTER the Blackfyre Rebellion, at the start of the "Tales of Dunk and Egg" series

Family tree around the star of the "Tales of Dunk and Egg" series, around 209 AC

Make sure to click to zoom in on the family tree picture!

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Some Remaining Questions

Where does all this information come from?

Primarily the Dunk and Egg stories, particularly the second one, “The Sworn Sword”. There’s also references and information in the ASOIAF novels. A lot of the knowledge is from George R. R. Martin comments not actually in any published works (yet) – you can find that information in the “So Spake Martin” archives on westeros.org, or through the Wiki of Ice and Fire. The Wiki is very useful for finding out information like this (I even lifted a few sentences near verbatim from it because they were phrased well), but the best place for information is the published works themselves.

A worldbook, “The World of Ice and Fire”, is set to come out later this year [2014] and it sounds like it will be bursting with Westerosi history information, so that should provide even more information.

Did Aegon IV, "the Unworthy", truly mean for Daemon Blackfyre to be his heir, not Daeron II, "the Good"?

Who can say? It's a very interesting topic without a set answer, and I've seen good evidence for both sides. I do think it's important to consider Aegon IV mightn't even really have had a plan at all.

Who was older, Daemon Blackfyre or Daeron II, "the Good", Targaryen?

Daeron II, by a fair margin. Daeron II had a son, Baelor Breakspear, the same age as Daemon Blackfyre.

Some of this sounds awfully familiar, just like characters/events in "A Song of Ice and Fire"...

There are many parallels; George R. R. Martin seems to love doing that!

Does the "Tales of Dunk and Egg" series take place before, during, or after the Blackfyre Rebellion?

Thirteen years after, in the first story, "The Hedge Knight", and then further after as the series progresses. So, very much after. The Blackfyre Rebellion informs and affects the "Tales of Dunk and Egg" series much the same way Robert's Rebellion informs and affects "A Song of Ice and Fire".

Is Maekar's third son Aemon the Maester Aemon, from "A Song of Ice and Fire"?

He sure is! Aemon is around 100 years old in "A Game of Thrones".

Do we know which specific houses sided with the Targaryens or the Blackfyres, in the Blackfyre Rebellion?

We know some of them! The North remained uninvolved as it often does in matters of the south (too far away), but plenty of southron houses chose sides.

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Art Acknowledgements

Let me know if anything is mistakenly acknowledged to the wrong artist, or if there are any other errors or problems.

When I use a picture more than once, I’ll acknowledge it only the first time it appears, to avoid clutter.

This might be a tad messy since there is just so much brilliant art out there that I used, but all the attributions should be in here.

Section 1: The Blackfyre Rebellion

All the character art in Section 1, “The Blackfyre Rebellion” – the portrait of Aegon IV “the Unworthy”, the portraits of Daeron II, Daenerys, Daemon, Bittersteel, Shiera, and Bloodraven – belongs to Amok, real name Roman Papsuev. The shoddy manipulation of the six of Aegon IV’s children into one image is a MS Paint job by me – Amok’s original portraits look much better and not nearly as squashed!

Section 2: Pre-War Family Tree

The character art of everyone except Aemon the Dragonknight and Serenei of Lys in this section again belongs to the amazing Amok / Roman Papsuev. I remember back in the days before the show, when pretty much all the visual character information readers had to go on was Amok’s art. It really is great stuff, and there’s a remarkable amount of it.

The three brilliant pictures of Daemon duelling Ser Gwayne Corbray, Daemon Blackfyre pierced by Bloodraven and the Raven’s Teeth’s arrows, and the sun over the Redgrass Field in the aftermath of the battle, come from the second Dunk and Egg graphic novel, “The Sworn Sword”, drawn by Mike S. Miller and coloured by Mike Crowell. That graphic novel is superb and the best place to go if you want to see visuals of the Blackfyre Rebellion – it’s worth buying for the depiction of the Battle of Redgrass Field alone.